


No More Nightmares

by lilcogs



Category: Everlark - Fandom, Peeta Mellark - Fandom, The Hunger Games, katniss everdeen - Fandom
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-09
Updated: 2015-07-09
Packaged: 2018-04-08 11:29:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4303155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilcogs/pseuds/lilcogs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I realize only one person will be damaged beyond repair if Peeta dies. Me."<br/>What if it was the other way around?</p>
            </blockquote>





	No More Nightmares

**Author's Note:**

> This is going to hurt. It is. I'm sorry, I know I'm a terrible person. :p  
> Find me on Tumblr at everlark-af.

I wanted to be strong for her. I did. But I couldn't help the tear that finally slid from beneath my closed lids. It glided down my cheek and onto my nose, and I quickly wiped it away. I couldn't let her see me cry. Not like this. Not right now.

"So it's finally time, huh?" I asked her.

It was meant to be lighthearted, but the weight of the situation settled around us and my intentions were lost.

She smiled meekly at me from her position on the bed. She was sitting up, her head and back supported by a countless number of pillows. Her hair was fanned out over her shoulders; the raven color it used to be was now replaced with a silver that matched her eyes. She was still more beautiful than ever; that hadn't changed even though we were both now in our old age.

"I think so," she whispered, that pained smile still ghosting on her face. "I'm so sorry, Peeta."

I shook my head fervently at her. "You have absolutely nothing to apologize for, Katniss. You've made me the happiest man alive for- how long has it been now? Seventy years? That's more than I could have ever asked for. My only regret is not being able to go back in time to tell five-year-old me I'd have the girl with the red plaid dress and the braids as my wife. I could have made that little boy so happy."

A tear slipped from her watery grey eyes and she swiped at it with a bony finger. She was allowing herself this too; unknowingly telling me that she could show her weaknesses around me. No one but me had the joy of waking beside her each morning, of making her breakfast, of seeing her dancing and singing with our children, of hearing her tinkling laugh and seeing her radiant smile. No one but me got to love Katniss Everdeen with the whole of their heart.

We sat there awhile, her breathing becoming more and more labored, but the silence wasn't an uncomfortable one. It held all the words we didn't need to say to each other to know what they were, and what they meant.

_I love you._

_Please don't leave me._

_I don't want to. It's just time._

After a while, I took her hand in mine and looked her in the eyes, which had shut but now fluttered open. "Do you think... Do you think you could sing me the Meadow Song? One last time?" My voice cracked when I realized _this would be the last time I would hear her sing,_ and I squeezed her hand a little too tightly. She smiled an anguished smile and nodded her head at me. As she gathered the last reserves of her energy, I climbed into our bed with her, her frail hand still clutched in mine.

As she began to sing, I kissed her palm, the back of her hand, her fingertips, up her arm and her shoulder, and then back.

_Deep in the meadow, hidden far away,_

_A cloak of leaves, a moonbeam ray,_

She took a deep breath between each stanza, and I let her take her time before continuing.

_Forget your woes, and let your troubles lay,_

_And when it's morning, they'll wash away,_

She closed her eyes to the sensation of my trail of kisses, and I let another tear fall, this time onto her arm.

_Here it's safe, here it's warm,_

_Here the daisies guard you from every harm,_

I didn't miss the way her breaths became shakier with every inhale, each lift of her chest just a little shallower.

_Here is the place where dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true,_

_Here is the place where I love you._

When I opened my eyes and came back to reality, I talked to her about anything to distract her. I spoke of the first time I heard her sing. I spoke of the rhythmic swing of her braids as she walked down the hall in school. I spoke of how real she had always been to me, even after my hijacking.

I softly called our now-grown and anxious children into the room just a second before I felt her grip loosen in mine. She was gone. I had to let her go, I told myself, even though my heart was right there, _right there_. I felt that I could see it, on the floor, torn out of my body and ripped into shreds. My children lowered her eyelids; she looked like she was sleeping. So peaceful. I knew the nightmares could never find her now. That helped some. My children led me out of the room and I think I smiled. Or maybe I cried.

The girl on fire's flame had finally died out.


End file.
